ILLINOIS  REPEATER  ASSOCIATION

 

BOARD of DIRECTORS MINUTES

April 24, 2009

 

The Illinois Repeater Association Board of Directors meeting for April 24, 2009 was called to order by IRA President Rich Ranson at 9:20 PM  at the Eastland Suites Bloomington/Normal, Illinois.

 

IRA Officers Present:

President: Richard Ranson, N9YAY  ** [VIA PHONE/TELECONFERENCE]

Vice President Tim Childers, KB9FBI

Secretary/Treasurer Larry Schroeder, KA9KDC

Directors- -

Al Wolfe, K9SI.

William Kraus, KA9FER 

Stephen Look, KA9SZW

Stephen Craig, WD9CIR

 

Staff Present: Aaron Collins, N9OZB, Frequency Coordinator.

         Robert Shepard, KA9FLX, Technical Committee Chairman.

         Fred Seibold, W9FWS, Newsletter Editor.

 

Guests Present:

Dave Karr, KA9FUR, Wisconsin Frequency Coordinator

 

___________________________________________________________________________     

 

President, Richard Ranson, N9YAY, explained the work circumstances that affected his inability to be present at the annual meeting.    Through the facilities of the Eastland Conference Center, the meetings will be presided via teleconference/speaker phone.

 

Minutes of Previous Meetings: KA9KDC moved and  KA9SZW seconded a motion to approve the minutes as previously published in the newsletter.  Motion carried by unanimous voice vote.

 

Treasurer's Report: Treasurer’s report: Secretary/ Treasurer, KA9KDC, read the treasurer's for the period of April 2008 to April 24, 2009.  

 

As of April 24th (before meeting) there were :  123 members ….. (with 54 members still due for renewal from 2008)   - Note that expect  renewals and additional new members occur at General Mtg (tomorrow).

 

KB9FBI  moved and KA9FER seconded a motion that the report be accepted. The motion carried by voice vote.

 

 

COMMITEE REPORTS:

v      Frequency Coordinators Report : Aaron Collins, N9OZB, IL Frequency Coordinator gave a review of past years coordination and actions. 

 

A motion to accept the coordinator report was made by  KB9FBI and seconded by K9SI.

The motion was passed by voice vote.

 

v      Technical Committe Report : Bob Shepard, KA9FLX gave a summary of issues and active topics related to coordination.     Discussion of a emerging technology, concerns and coordination guidelines for digital repeaters, plans for technologies that utilize narrow FM in terms of separation & coordination.   Review of handling for narrowband assignments established last year and systems results of test operations that fit the 2007 allocations &  layout.   For the "waiting list" there are 6 on the list maintained by the Tech Committee Chairman.  

 

o        The official policy is those waiting for repeater frequencies when none are available in a specific area must keep the IL Repeater Assoc technical committee chair informed by direct correspondence and updates on an annual basis.   If this annual update is not made to the tech Committee the requestor will be not maintained on the "wait list"

 

A motion to accept the committee reports was made by KA9FER and seconded by KA9KDC. The motion was passed by voice vote.

 

Old Business:

 

 

Discussion of Regionalized PLs -   do formal plan,  Coordinator recommends defacto values in regions; and works where information exists  to suggest PL parameters that do not conflict with adjacent coordinated systems.

 

SNP (shared-NonProtected) Repeaters.   Board requests registered letter be sent by N9OZB, coordinator for present coordinated system(Peoria) on the SNP UHF pair to change frequency - per past years proceedings.   Coordinator will provide holder of coordination with available frequencies to be coordinated for the systems change.

 

 

New Business :

 

SNP (Shared Non-Protected) Repeaters

Motion by KB9FBI that the use of SNP pairs for repeaters, the Illinois Repeater Asscoiation will not provide COORDINATION  for such SNP systems on SNP pairs (441.500 & 442.125).    Any wording on coordination instructions or documentation will strik the words "to be coordinated" for SNP repeater information.

 

 Motion made by KB9FBI and seconded by K9SI.

 

 

Interworking/support for neighboring State Coordination organizations

Dave Karr, Wisconsin Frequency coordinator who was present at the mmeting discussed with the Board that Ill. Repeater Association might consider working with other neighbor states to strengthen organization and efforts.   While productive information sharing  occurred, no formal motion or action taken by board at this time.

 

 

Packet "Digital" simplex systems

Discussion of potential or value in incorporating listings for digital/packet entries to database.    Concensus was Illiois Repeater Associations role is coordination of "Repeaters" in FCC defined repeater sub-bands;   Coordinator does presently use information when available on any links that exist, to coordinate repeater links, etc.

 

 

Adjournment:  KA9SZM  moved and K9SI seconded that the IRA Board of Directors' Meeting be recessed until after the annual meeting on April 25, 2009.  Motion passed by unanimous voice vote.  The meeting was recessed at  11:37  PM.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Larry Schroeder, KA9KDC

Secretary/Treasurer,

Illinois Repeater Association Inc. 

 

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Annual Meeting Minutes

APRIL 25,2009

 

Call to order: The meeting was called to order by IRA president Rich Ranson, N9YAY (via teleconference) at 10:05 am at the Eastland Suites, Bloomington/Normal Illinois. Larry Schroeder KA9KDC, secretary/treasurer, verified that there was a quorum present as required in the constitution to conduct business.   ( 44  of 123  members present or represented by proxy)

 

Introduction of Officers and Attendees: N9YAY asked everyone to introduce themselves and identify the repeater(s) they represent. There were 45 persons in attendance representing 72 unique repeater sponsors.     

 

Also present was Dave Karr, KA9FUR, Wisconsin Frequency Coordinator

            __________________________________________________________

 

Approval of prior meeting minutes: W9XA moved and KA9ZXN seconded a motion that the minutes of the 2008 annual meeting be approved as published in the IRA newsletter. Motion carried by unanimous voice vote.

 

Treasurer’s report: Secretary/ Treasurer, KA9KDC, read the treasurer's for the period of April 2008 to April 24, 2009.  

 

As of April 24th (before meeting) there were ….

 

WA0LIS moved and N9JWI  seconded a motion that the report be accepted.  The motion carried by voice vote.

 

Coordinator’s report: President N9YAY introduced Aaron Collins, N9OZB Frequency Coordinator, and thanked him for his efforts in the past year. Aaron presented his written report that highlighted the activity in the past year.    Aaron noted that the effort taken to have a 2nd notice mailing for annual update had beneficial results for getting a number of repeaters to provide more accurate information, as well as reduce the number of systems that are at risk of decoordination for failing to provide annual updates.

 

Aaron highlighted the value of the "coordinators toolkit" software is in performing coordination work. This is a software package engineered by Dave Karr, WI Freq Coordinator.

 

 

A motion to accept the coordinators report was made by KA9ZXN and seconded by WA9WTF.

 

The motion was accepted by voice vote.

 

 

Technical Committee report: Robert Shepard, KA9FLX, reported that details of years technical committee efforts was covered by the Coordinator' report.   Bob did stress that repeater coordination information needs to be technically correct and accurate to improve the associations efforts in handling coordination actions, in particular he noted that numerous systems have have incorrect ERP calculation/data, and physical specifications for their site.

 

Wait List policy was stated (requesters must have annual communication and updates with the technical committee to be maintain on the wait list)

 

Bob discussed the DSTAR and digital coordination plan that was formulated at the 2007 meeting.  It was noted that many other states have followed the plan IL had formed when it came to layout of DStar coordinations on 2m and 440.

 

 

President’s  report:

Rich Ranson, N9YAY, IRA president summarized his view of 2008-2009 activities of the organization, thanking the board and committee chairs for their work.  In particular for Aaron Collins work on frequency coordination.  Rich discussed NFCC role.

 

A motion to accept the presidents report was made by W9XA and seconded by W9DWP.

The motion was accepted by voice vote.

 

Special Guest/Presentation:  Dick Isley, (W9GIG) ARRL Central Division Director

Dick thanked membership and organization present for their support for his 9 years on the ARRL: board.  Dick explained the efforts of the ARRL to work with the FCC to properly define "repeaters", as well as significant federal court cases and legislation the ARRL is working to affect.

 

Dick brought up some concerns he was aware of related to IRA organization responsiveness in individual requests. Dick stressed to the organization, particularly board and committees that inquires and communication needs to get promptly acknowledged when received.

 

Election of Officers/Directors:

 

For this year:   (2 YEAR TERMS):

          PRESIDENT

            VICE PRESIDENT

            SECRETARY-TREASURER

TWO DIRECTOR SLOTS ARE TO BE ELECTED

 

Nominations from the floor were:

K9SI for Director  , Nominated by W9XA

KA9FER for Director, Nominated by KC9KKO

W9FWS for Director,  Nominated by N9RVQ

W9DWP for Director, Nominated by K9WSS

N9YAY for President,   Nominated by KA9FLX

KA9KDC for Sec/Treas, Nominated by KB9TVD

KB9FBI for VicePres, Nominated by KA9FER

 

The motion was made to close nominations by W9XA,  seconded by N9RBQ and carried by voice vote.

 

PAPER BALLOT for election occurred.  

 

Election Result:

President-                       Rich Ranson-N9YAY

Vice President-                Tim Childers-KB9FBI

Secretary/Treasurer-       Larry Schroeder-KA9KDC

Directors-     (2009-2011)

Al Wolfe-K9SI                 

William Kraus-KA9FER

 

Motion by W9XA to approve election & destroy all cast Ballots, second by KC6VVT

 

Old Business:

 

n                   KA9FLX, IRA Technical Committee Chair, explained the clarified definition for SNP (Shared-Non-Protected) Repeaters, that SNP systems are not coordinated, rather information may be included in the coordination database but not given any protection as normal coordinations.     SNP UHF PAIRS are 442.125 & 441.5 (2009 newsletter had a error in frequency).

WD9HSY motion to accept SNP Update as presented, seond by W9DWP.  approved by voice vote.

 

 

 

n                   Discussed location for IRA annual meetings.  general consensus that the EASTLAND SUITES facility, Bloomington, IL continues to be a good location.   2010 meeting will be arranged for the same facilities (2010 Meeting will be :    April 24, 2010).

 

New Business:

 

Repeater Coordination software: W9XA made a motion to donate $200 to Dave Karr, developer for the coordination toolkit, Seconded by WD9HSY.  Motion passed by voice vote.

 

---------------

General discussion topics (no specific motions):

  • Tracking digital/wide band simplex listing in 1200 Mhz 125Khz channels.

 

 

Adjournment: There being no further business before the body a motion to adjourn was made by K9XA and seconded by W9DWP and approved by a unanimous voice vote. The meeting was adjourned at 11:15 AM

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Larry Schroeder, KA9KDC

Secretary /Treasurer

Illinois Repeater Association Inc.

 

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BOARD of DIRECTORS MINUTES

 

April 25, 2009

 

The meeting of the Board of Directors of the Illinois Repeater Association was called to order by IRA President N9YAY  at 11:50  AM at the   Eastland Suites Bloomington/Normal, Illinois.

 

IRA Officers Present:  President N9YAY (*via phone) - Vice President Timothy Childers, KB9FBI- Secretary/Treasurer Lawrence Schroeder, KA9KDC - Directors: Allen Wolfe, K9SI – William Kraus, KA9FER-  Stephen Look, KA9SZW, and Stephen Craig, WD9CIR           

 

IRA officers absent:  None.

 

Committee and Frequency Coordinator Appointments: President appointed Aaron Collins, N9OZB to serve as Frequency Coordinator for the next year.

KA9KDC moved and KB9FBI seconded that this appointment be confirmed.

 

N9YAY Appointed KA9FLX, Bob Shepard to serve as IRA Technical Committee Chairman.

K9SI  moved and  KA9FER seconded a motion to confirm this appointment.

 

N9YAY appointed Fred Seibold, W9FWS, to serve as Newsletter Editor.

WD9CIR  moved and KA9SZW seconded a motion that this appointment be confirmed.

 

All three appointnents passed by a unanimous voice vote.

 

MACC Director Appointments: N9YAY appointed KB9FBI and W9GIG to serve as MACC Directors for the next 12 months, and N9OZB to serve as MACC Frequency Coordinator.

 

KA9KDC moved and KA9SZW seconded a motion that the IRA Board of Directors confirm these appointments.  Motion passed by unanimous voice vote.

 

NFCC Delegate: KA9FER moved and WD9CIR seconded a motion that: “The IRA President shall cast all NFCC ballots on behalf of the IRA, and that the IRA Vice President shall do so in the absence or incapacity of the IRA President, or by the direction of the IRA President.”  Motion passed by unanimous voice vote.

 

Adjournment: KB9FBI   moved and K9SI seconded that the IRA Board of Directors meeting be adjourned.  Motion passed by unanimous voice vote. 

 

The meeting adjourned at 11:58 AM April 25, 2009.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Larry Schroeder, KA9KDC

Secretary/Treasurer,

Illinois Repeater Association Inc.